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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: land · cap · ruler · club · clip · degree

  1. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  6. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  9. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  10. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  11. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  17. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  18. When are we going to ________________?

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. land — ground
  3. degree — an amount
  4. clip — to cut
  5. cap — a lid
  6. cap — of ice
  7. degree — from a university
  8. ruler — a monarch
  9. club — for dancing
  10. club — for golf
  11. club — a group
  12. degree — temperature
  13. land — a country
  14. ruler — for measuring
  15. clip — for paper
  16. cap — a hat
  17. ruler — for measuring
  18. land — to come down

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com